Harry Harrison, sf author of note, is not the same person as Harry Harrison the cartoonist of Hong Kong's South China Morning Post. But you can't expect the Guardian to work that out: they reprinted one of Harrison II's cartoons with a note that he's '... a comics artist, writer and editor specialising in science fiction. His book Make Room! Make Room! was adapted for the cult film Soylent Green (1973)' (16 Feb) [JGD/HP]

Michael Moorcock is to be honoured as this year's SFWA Grand Master. But, alas, he confirms rumours of further surgery: 'Yeah, I had a big toe off last week in Seaton Hospital, Austin. I've been going to hyperbarics for a couple of weeks and it seems to be doing you good. The tube this time is a communal chamber. The whole thing is like a set of a 1950s sf movie, including the helmet you wear. The other day a guy cracked up in the chamber, just like a bit part actor in a Twilight Zone episode. We couldn't do too much because we were in the middle of what the techs call a dive. I'm able to take a notebook in, so now I really know what it's like to work under pressure.' Later: 'The worst horror is that we have a teenager aboard and she asks to watch teeny TV – we're all otherwise readers or snoozers. And then she asks for the sound raised above the helmet noise – we all sound (and indeed look) like Cybermen in there. Or so many trainee Darths.' [6 March]

J.R.R. Tolkien's estate is suing New Line Cinema over the Lord of the Rings films. Supposedly the estate should receive 7.5% of the estimated $6 billion gross receipts but, beyond a modest upfront payment of $62,500, it has had nothing. [JS] Many authors who've dealt with film companies remember similar feats of accounting magic.

As Others See Us. J.G. Ballard is rehabilitated, again: 'For many readers, Ballard is the author of the controversial novel Crash (1973), a surreal exploration of sexuality and the motor car. But before Crash, and before his wife's death, Ballard's novels had begun to shape a unique suburban dystopia. In its time, this vision was categorised as science fiction. Now we can see it more clearly as deeper, darker and more prophetic.' (Robert McCrum, Observer review, 10 February) [JM]

R.I.P.John Alvin (1948-2008), US artist who painted many iconic film posters, most famously the magic finger of E.T., died on 6 February aged 59. Other work included Blazing Saddles (his debut), Gremlins, The Phantom of the Paradise and the Star Wars anniversary posters. [GW]  Richard Baer (1928-2008), US tv screenwriter who wrote scripts for The Munsters and Bewitched, died on 22 February aged 79. [SJD]  William F. Buckley, Jr (1925-2008), US newspaper columnist, conservative pundit and occasional novelist who wrote the children's fantasy The Temptation of Wilfred Malachey (1985), died on 27 February; he was 82. [ML]  Ben Chapman (1928-2008), US actor who was the original Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), died on 21 February; he was 79.  Robert DoQui (1934-2008), US actor best known as Sergeant Reed in three Robocop films (1987-93), died on 9 February aged 74. [SJD]  Steve Gerber (1947-2008), US comics writer who worked on several 1970s Marvel titles – notably Man-Thing – and created the satirical character Howard the Duck, died on 10 February. He was 60. His prolonged lawsuit against Marvel, who took Howard the Duck away from him, is a landmark case in comic creators' rights. [TCR]  Werner Kurt Giesa (1954-2008), German author who contributed to the Perry Rhodan sequence but is best known for writing the biweekly horror-serial magazine Professor Zamorra under the pseudonym Robert Lamont, died on or before 14 February; he was 53. [OM]  E. Gary Gygax (1938-2008), US game designer and fantasy novelist best known for his creation (with Dave Arneson) of the original, enormously influential Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game, died on 4 March aged 69. [LP] I liked the on-line suggestion that fans should club together to build him a vast tomb full of the deadliest imaginable traps.  Janet Kagan (1946-2008), US author whose 1988 novel Hellspark had a devoted following, and who won a Hugo for her novelette 'The Nutcracker Coup' (1992), died on 29 February. [GW]  Robert Legault, US copyeditor and former Managing Editor of Tor Books, died from an unexpected heart attack in late February. [RF]  Stephen Marlowe (1928-2008), US crime and supernatural novelist who published sf from 1950 to the early 1960s under his birth name Milton Lesser, died on 22 February; he was 79. [AIP]  Barry Morse (1918-2008), London-born actor – in Canada from 1951 – whose many genre roles included Professor Victor Bergman in Space: 1999, died on 2 February aged 89. [MMW]  Julian Rathbone (1935-2008), UK novelist whose sf venture was the future-dystopian Trajectories (1998), died on 28 February. He was 73. [JC]  Alain Robbe-Grillet (1922-2008), French experimental author who wrote some surreal fantasy, died on 18 February aged 87. [PDF] In sf, his 'anti-novel' approach famously influenced Brian Aldiss's Report on Probability A.  Leonard Rosenman (1924-2008), Oscar-winning composer who scored many genre films (Fantastic Voyage, Beneath the Planet of the Apes and sequel, Star Trek IV, Robocop 2, etc), died on 4 March; he was 83. [SFS]  Roy Scheider (1932-2008), US actor best known for Jaws and also seen in SeaQuest DSV (Captain Nathan Bridger), 2010, two Dracula films, etc, died on 10 February aged 75. His debut film was The Curse of the Living Corpse (1964). [GW]  Ken Slater (1917-2008), old-time UK fan and book/magazine dealer who introduced so many of us to the joys of sf and fandom, died on 16 February. He was 90 in December 2007 and celebrated with a January party. Ken, a much-loved figure at conventions for many decades, is generally credited with restarting British fandom after World War II, setting an example to fanzine publishers with his Operation Fantast in 1947; he was a founding member (#6) of the BSFA in 1958. Ken and his late wife Joyce were fan guests of honour at the 1987 Brighton Worldcon. With help from his daughter Susie he remained an active book dealer into 2008.  Steve Whitaker (1955-2008), UK comics artist who coloured the 1988 graphic novel V for Vendetta, died on 22 February. [JG]

Outraged Letters.Guy Lawley: 'I found out a few weeks ago that Gollancz were planning to re-issue their Fantasy Masterworks #17, titled Elric, in April 2008. The new ["Ultimate Fantasies"] edition was to be titled Elric of Melniboné. / As you probably know, Elric is a compendium of the original 1960s volumes Stealer of Souls and Stormbringer. Elric of Melniboné on the other hand is the first of Moorcock's new 1970s Elric books, a prequel to Stealer of Souls. / I wrote to Jo Fletcher twice pointing out that Elric of Melniboné is the title of a different book altogether and suggesting that Gollancz revert to the original title. Ms Fletcher wrote back twice justifying their decision in various more or less daft ways. For example she pointed out that Gollancz have 3 different editions of I Am Legend in print at the moment, including a film tie-in. Needless to say, all three are still called I Am Legend. None of them has been arbitrarily given the title of a completely different Richard Matheson book. / Then Mike himself wrote to Gollancz. I had told him about the name change; Gollancz, surprisingly, hadn't consulted him at all. At this point they decided they would change the name back to Elric. / I hear that the title/cover change is now underway in the design department. I also hear that the word at Gollancz is that "some anal nerd Moorcock fan" started the ball rolling on this one. I'm thinking of having that put on a T-shirt.' [16 Feb]

Publishers and Sinners.Dedalus Books, UK fantasy publishers whose Arts Council funding was cut for no evident reason (see A247), will now be sponsored for two years by Informa plc/Routledge Books.

As Others See J.K. Rowling Readers. 'Probably best to come clean here and admit that I have not read the Harry Potter books. I bought them for my daughter and speed-read a paragraph or two, but I swiftly came to the conclusion that if I was ever going to get into this kind of thing, it would have happened as a teenager. And I'd have doubtless nabbed myself a nice Dungeons & Dragons-playing boyfriend into the bargain. I imagine he would have been called Clive and we would have been blissfully happy, attending Trekkie conventions together.' (Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 2 March) [PS]

Court Circular. That J.K. Rowling/Warner Bros lawsuit against RDR Books, prospective publishers of a condensed print version of Steve Vander Ark's Harry Potter Lexicon website, chugs on remorselessly. Even my name was bandied in the legal filings, with RDR citing my own HP exegesis as one of six works which didn't get sued despite 'especially striking similarities to the Lexicon in both format and content'. I can't see the likeness myself, and neither can JKR/WB, whose counter-filing agrees that the Langford epic wasn't marketed as 'an encyclopedia or guide'. I also heard from RDR, asking how I got away with it – that is, whether JKR/WB had been horrid to me. In fact, once Gollancz had let the author's agents see early proofs, all was sweetness and light.  Terry Pratchett, who has conspicuously failed to sue Andrew M. Butler for editing An Unofficial Companion to the Novels of Terry Pratchett, does not approve of this suit: 'In fantasy writing, accusations of copying are very difficult to make. [...] You know who invented wizards? Who invented Goblins? If we were going to start paying royalties for nicking one another's ideas, we'd have all given our life savings to the Tolkien family a long time ago.' (Independent, 6 March) [JY]

We Are Everywhere. You know sf has conquered the world when a net pundit announces that 'Barack Obama is the Democratic Party's Kwisatz Haderach.' (SnarkyBastards.com) [LP]  Roger Von Bergendorff, under investigation in the USA for possessing and perhaps manufacturing poisonous ricin, 'is believed to be a computer graphic artist whose work has appeared on several science fiction novels'. No one seems to know which novels. (New York Times, 3 March) [MF]

BSFA Story Competition. SF, up to 8000 words; open to UK/Irish residents only; deadline 5 September. Good news: £500 first prize, £50 to runners-up. Bad news: £10 entry fee. More at www.bsfa.co.uk.

The Dead Past.70 Years Ago. Televised sf had its 70th anniversary last month: the BBC's partial adaptation of Karel Capek's R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots was broadcast on 11 February 1938. [AIP]  30 Years Ago: 'The biggest event at Fantasycon [February 1978] was the non-appearance of Stephen King, the Guest of Honour. Illness was given as the official reason (actually his recent vasectomy hadn't healed properly, which is probably the most original excuse for a GoH not turning up in the history of conventions).' (Checkpoint 87, March 1978)

Thog's Masterclass.Eyeballs in the Sky. 'Matilda was lovely, but she had bright burning eyes that you could feel creep down your face and into your belly.' (Arthur N. Scarm, The Werewolf vs Vampire Woman, 1972) [BA]  Werewolf Truisms Dept. 'Waldo was dead, but not very dead.' (Ibid)  Life Expectancy Dept. '"Please don't hurt me Mister Werewolf," she begged. "I'm only 21 and I have at least 10 good years ahead of me yet."' (Ibid)  Dept of Colourful Idiom. 'Considering this horrid fact, he drained his vodka and soda and motioned to Mullarney [the barman] to shove up another sheep.' (Sam Merwin, Jr, The Time Shifters, 1971). [AR]  Time Travel Dept. '"Finding that my new love is my great-grandfather, however happenstantially, requires a certain amount of getting used to."' (Ibid)  Dept of Relativity. 'It's the long accepted theory that a man who could travel faster than light could spin off this planet for a light year or two and return that much younger.' (Ibid)  True Romance Dept. 'Sex, like a thousand-headed snake, wound its dark coils and convulsed in agony, tightening upon the conflagration [in the hero's soul] and concentrating its malevolence and potency, pulsing the hellish plasma to new levels of atrocious ferocity.' (Colin Kapp, Transfinite Man aka The Dark Mind, 1964) [AR]

Editorial. Yes, I do find it rather depressing to be running another long, long obituary column. More frivolous news, please! Ken Slater's humanist funeral on 28 February was well attended despite the remote fenland location near King's Lynn. Besides Susie and the family, those present included Brian Ameringen, Erik Arthur, Simon Bradshaw, Claire Brialey, Jim Campbell, David Eggleton (who used to keep the market bookstall with Ken long ago, and helped organize a 1960s Peterborough Eastercon), Martin Hoare, Tim Illingworth and Marcia, me, Rog Peyton, Mark Plummer, Chris Priest, Doreen Rogers, Peter Weston (armed with a copy of the new Prolapse for Susie), and Bridget Wilkinson. Ken had a good long run, but somehow we expected him to go on forever....